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The making of a champion, Part 2

Malvern Lady Leopards head coach Jess Martin and assistant coach Cleveland Gordon, who has been with the team four years, have a theory with their practices.
They aim to make the practices as hard as they can so when it comes time for an actual game, the players are having fun.
That’s not to say that they don’t occasionally have fun in practice as well.
Martin praises Gordon’s role on the team whenever he gets the chance.
“He is the enforcer — the bad guy coach,” Martin said jokingly. “He has a great rapport with the kids. He works hard and does a lot of stuff that goes unnoticed.”
The loyalty of Gordon is another thing that endears him to his head coach.
That loyalty, respect and closeness has rubbed off on the rest of the team as well.
Even when players aren’t getting the minutes or amount of points you might think they would get in other programs, they still soldier on because every single player is a key cog in the machine that is the 2013 state champion Lady Leopards.